A Rainham school said goodbye to its award-winning deputy headteacher with a special assembly last week.

Mike Wade, who won the London and South East area prize in the National Teacher of the Year Awards last year, left Brady Primary School after five years as Deputy Headteacher.

At a special assembly, Mr Wade was “put on trial” by staff and accused of crimes he’d committed over the years, and was also presented with a laptop and a plaque.

Mr Wade is leaving to become head teacher of a school in Billericay.

Brady Primary’s head teacher, Trevor Bradbury, said that Mr Wade has been instrumental in the school achieving an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating in 2010. It failed a 2005 inspection.

He said: “I’ve been teaching for a long long time and I’ve never met anyone like him. It’s a new opportunity for him, he’s ready for this.”

Mr Wade, who taught at Crowlands Junior School and a school in Leyton before joining the Wennington Road school, said: “I’m excited about the new challenge. There’s a great sense of excitement but also a great sense of loss, it’s kind of hard leaving.”